By Niall McKenna
Teachers with the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada program (LINC), the free English training for immigrants, want their students to get the language training they need.
But funding for LINC has remained static since 1996, despite rising costs.
The funding shortfall means that certain parts of the program will no longer be offered.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board learned in September that the government won’t pay for field trips next year.
Sharon Campbell, an English as a second language administrator with the school board, says this is unfortunate.
“Field trips were a wonderful way to introduce the students to different parts of Canadian culture that they might not even know about,” she says.
Students have made field trips to Gatineau Park, Parliament Hill and the Byward Market.
Susan Castillo Estrada, an ESL teacher with the school board, says field trips are vital.
“There are people who get on a bus, they leave their house, come to school, and they go home and that’s it,” she says. “They don’t know the market downtown. They don’t know the shopping centres.”
Deborah Spurr, national director of settlement at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which funds LINC, says the program is meant for basic language training only.
“(We) endeavour to make the best use of the funds that are available for this program, reaching out as far as possible and offering the best possible training to the most possible people – newcomers,” Spurr says.
Another popular LINC class is computer-assisted language learning.
Campbell says using computers helps students find jobs.
“Especially if they’re taking the LINC to move on into the workplace, they can have some skills on the computers,” she says.
But Campbell is worried about the future of their computer classes.
She says the government paid for the computers two years ago, but no longer funds maintenance or replacement.
“As the computers die, they die – unless we can find money to pay for them.”
Castillo Estrada also sees the close bonds between ESL teachers and their students as critical for immigrants to settle.
“We are the first Canadians that many of these students will meet,” she says. “So, we have to represent all that is good and all that is positive about our society.”
This is apparent in Elizabeth Nierojewski’s class.
The popular LINC teacher has given class time for students to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The class shares mounds of Middle Eastern pastries and salads for lunch.
In the cheerful atmosphere, students are eager to socialize and share their experiences of settling in Canada.
Farahd Rahi, a diminutive, grey-bearded man who speaks in halting English, says he’s grateful for his family’s new life.
Rahi moved from Afghanistan four years ago with his family, only one year before the U.S.-led invasion in that country.
“One thing I’ve found in Canada – for me and my family – is safety,” Rahi says. “It’s important for my child. Because my country no future for my child.”